Superb New Guinea Ceremonial Mask
Lower Sepik River, Papua New Guinea
19th to early 20th century
Wood, rattan, natural pigments
Height 18.75” (48 cm)
Provenance: Christies Amsterdam - December 12, 2000 / Stadler Collection- Munich, Germany / Wayne Heathcote, UK / Robin Greer - Queensland, Australia / D'lan Davidson - Melbourne, Australia / Chris and Anna Thorpe personal collection - Sydney, Australia.
Art Loss Register certificate #S00255051
Early masks of the Lower Sepik River were carved in an astonishing variety of styles, ranging from naturalistic to highly stylized. The mask presented here, with its long beaklike nose, represents a supernatural bush or water spirit and would have been danced attached to a highly complex tumbuan basketry framework, inside which the dancer would animatedly parade through the village during important feasts. Finely carved with the use of pre-contact native stone tooling, the mask was rendered with a powerful vitality only expressed in the earliest examples. The mask’s otherworldly visage is decoratively highlighted with unusually well-preserved painted motifs, the thoughtful application of which the artist considered paramount, for paint was believed to be the magical element that would bring the wooden artifact to life. Attached to the perimeter of the mask is a cane basketry beard that would have once secured bundles of human hair. The smoke encrusted patina of the mask is well worn and ancient and reflects the care and veneration the mask received while secured inside the ceremonial men’s house for generations.
Superb New Guinea Ceremonial Mask
Lower Sepik River, Papua New Guinea
19th to early 20th century
Wood, rattan, natural pigments
Height 18.75” (48 cm)
Provenance: Christies Amsterdam - December 12, 2000 / Stadler Collection- Munich, Germany / Wayne Heathcote, UK / Robin Greer - Queensland, Australia / D'lan Davidson - Melbourne, Australia / Chris and Anna Thorpe personal collection - Sydney, Australia.
Art Loss Register certificate #S00255051
Early masks of the Lower Sepik River were carved in an astonishing variety of styles, ranging from naturalistic to highly stylized. The mask presented here, with its long beaklike nose, represents a supernatural bush or water spirit and would have been danced attached to a highly complex tumbuan basketry framework, inside which the dancer would animatedly parade through the village during important feasts. Finely carved with the use of pre-contact native stone tooling, the mask was rendered with a powerful vitality only expressed in the earliest examples. The mask’s otherworldly visage is decoratively highlighted with unusually well-preserved painted motifs, the thoughtful application of which the artist considered paramount, for paint was believed to be the magical element that would bring the wooden artifact to life. Attached to the perimeter of the mask is a cane basketry beard that would have once secured bundles of human hair. The smoke encrusted patina of the mask is well worn and ancient and reflects the care and veneration the mask received while secured inside the ceremonial men’s house for generations.
